Evaluation of the factors characterising high-performing maintenance teams in the petrochemical industry

Abstract

Historically, the maintenance function of an organisation was viewed as a ‘necessary evil’; however, the view has shifted to seeing it as a strategic element within an organisation to accomplish its business objectives. For organisations to continue to be competitive, they need to harness the true potential of their people by evaluating ways for maintenance teams to achieve effective teamwork. In the light of this, the study was tailored to determine the factors that characterise high-performing maintenance teams in the petrochemical industry in South Africa. The study determined an importance ranking of these critical factors when implementing high-performance maintenance teams. A questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data from 69 respondents. Analysis of the data revealed that the most important factors for maintenance teams to achieve high performance were knowledge and motivation. It was also found that the most important performance indicators for maintenance were equipment availability, overall equipment effectiveness, and spares availability.